Woman's license suspended after backing SUV into group

2 years ago

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - Two months after running over and killing three people in a parking lot following a church service, a 79-year-old Florida woman had her license suspended for a year and was fined $1,000 by a judge.

Doreene Landstra pleaded no contest in court Wednesday to improper backing, which is a noncriminal traffic infraction. The maximum penalty is usually a six-month license suspension, but a judge can impose up to a year when fatalities and other serious circumstances are involved.

The Florida Highway Patrol said that 80-year-old Johanna Dijkhoff, 72-year-old Margaret Vanderlaan and 70-year-old Wilhemina Paul, all of Bradenton, were killed Feb. 2 when Doreene Landstra accidentally backed her SUV into a group of people leaving a church service in the Sugar Creek Country Club.